Page 73
History of Orange County
Town of Newburgh
Page 73
1822. Mr. John Mandeville, who lived about a quarter of a mile from the village, came in to attend to some business, and was immediately followed by his horse, who found out where he was, stood by, and when his owner was ready to return, leisurely walked home before him.
1823. August. Mr. Scott, coroner, held an inquest over the body of Mrs. Teed, the wife of the unfortunate man who suffered for the murder of Jennings, found drowned below New Windsor. It seemed she had resided in the village for some time and was somewhat deranged. She was found missing a day or two before, and probably threw herself from the dock into the river. She left a family of four children.
1824. June. A number of gentlemen of the Village went on a hunting excursion to the west part of the town. They had scarcely commenced their sport, when, by the accidental discharge of a gun, Mr. Drake Seymour, one of the party, was shot of which he died in a few hours. The gun which did the mischief was at the time carried by Mr. Jas. Sanford.
This event, was sudden—-the subject so estimable in talents, urbanity and integrity, threw a gloom over the Village.
1824. November 24.—Loss of the Sloop Neptune.—On Nov. 24, about noon, the sloop Neptune, on her way from New York to this village, a short distance below Pallapel’s lsland, was upset, filled and sunk. At the time of this melancholy event, it is understood she had on board from fifty to fifty-five passengers, a majority of whom were drowned.
It appears that the vessel left New York under the command of her first hand, Mr. John Decker, (Capt. Halstead being detained in the city) with from forty to fifty tons of plaster and some eight or ten tons of other merchandize on board. About half of the plaster was put in the hold, and the remainder piled on deck. In the Highlands the wind was high, which induced the commander, when below West Point, to take a double reef in the mainsail, and other measures of caution for the safe deliverance of his charge. When off Little Stony Point, with very little way on the vessel, a flaw struck her and hove her down. This caused the plaster on deck to shift from windward to leeward. Most of the male passengers on board were on deck, and one or two of the females, and some ten or twelve women and six or seven children in the cabin.
The shifting of the plaster created the utmost confusion on board. The water rushed into the scuttle of the forecastle, which was to leeward, then into the cabin, and consternation, dismay and death presented their appalling features to all on board. In a few minutes she filled and plunged headlong to the bottom. In the cabin all perished. Those on deck were plunged into a cold and turbulent element or had been carried down with the vessel. The boat, was afloat, and when the sloop was going down was occupied by Decker and Woolsey, but without oars—they were supplied by Mr. Storm, whose oyster boat was just ahead of the sloop; and they made the utmost exertions to save the unfortunates. About seventeen were redeemed by their exertion and the other boats which came to their assistance, from a watery grave; but the rest perished.
The following are the names of those who were saved
John Decker, Levi D. Woolsey, Mr. Thorne, of Newburgh; Joseph Mullock, A. Carey, Jesse Green, of Minisink; Alfred Crawford, Alexander Crawford, John Rose, of Crawford;— Mr. Sprague, Mrs. Bowers, Mr. Smiley, Mr. Anderson, of Sullivan county; Lewis Broom, Patrick Kelly, of Walkill; A. Pierson of Montgomery and a lad belonging to Blooming Grove—total, 17.
The following persons were known to have been abroad the sloop: Mrs. Couch and two children, J. Loveland and J. Smiley, of Sullivan county; Mrs. Graham and two children, of Crawford; John Leader, of Blooming Grove; Sam’l Calisle, Jacob Polhemus, Mrs. McClaughery, of Newburgh; Mrs. Rush, of Walkill; Messrs. McCurdy, Weed, Hensler, Mrs. Churchill and Cochrane, of Montgomery; John Greenleaf, George Evertson, Matilda Helms, William Kelly and child, of Minisink; Mrs. Dean, of Cornwall, F. W. De Coudres and Mrs. Trout, of New York—total, 26.
It is supposed that a number of others were on board, which would make the whole equal to the number first stated, whose names and connections have not yet been discovered.
Mr. Polhemus, one of the boatmen, might have saved himself; but in his attempt to rescue a lady in the water struggling for life, they both perished together.
Mr. Mullock was on the quarter deck when the sloop was going down—he saw through the window the awful mental suffering in the cabin, and heard the screams of women and children for help, and lost for a moment all thoughts of his situation, and undertook to break away the grating which protects the window, to let them out. He had partially succeeded, when the vessel went down, some of the grating got fast in his clothes, and he went down with her:—she struck the bottom with a dreadful crash—he imagined his time had come—he made a powerful effort, and succeeded in extricating himself by tearing off a part of his vest which was fast, came to the top of the water and was finally saved.
The sloop sunk in fifty or sixty feet water. The owners, Messrs. Miller & Smith succeeded in raising her.---Index.
1825. A number of persons who unfortunately perished on board the sloop Neptune were found near Cold Spring landing, in June following, and interred by the coroner of Putnam County. The names of the persons recognized were John Leader of Blooming Grove, John Greenleaf of Minisink, and Matilda Helms, of Walkill. One other person, a man, was found near the residence of John Garrison and buried, and one was seen floating near West Point, which was not taken from the water.
1825. September 15. Died, Miss Charlotte Brown, aged nineteen years. This young lady, in company with her sister and a son of Mr. Olmstead in attempting to pass down the lower section of Ann street, in a chaise, was thrown out, and injured, which caused her death. Her sister was also seriously hurt, but recovered. The lad, with a presence of mind uncommon at his age, sprang from the carriage before it overturned and escaped unhurt.
1825. December. John S. Hunn, Esq., cashier of the Bank of Newburgh, erected a sun dial on the new building. The watchmakers regulated their time by it.— The difference between mean and solar time is about four minutes. Solar time is the faster.